


Slow but steady

by Leoparda



Category: Tattered Weave (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Death Threats, I promise this will become happy at one point...., M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-16 18:05:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13059294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leoparda/pseuds/Leoparda
Summary: Ok so most heromaker fics focus on Hero dying and/or both of them already being together. And I kind of wanted to have content where Hero steadily falls in love with Doll again so here you go. I have no idea where this is heading towards but we'll see.





	1. Falling for you

 “Ah!” _-Thunk_

Even though he was carefully treading through the graveyard, Dollmaker somehow managed to miss an object on his path, and he was now laying face first into the dirt. He raised his head immediately when he noticed Eludance near him, only to realize that his glasses were knocked off his face. And even worse: his mask was also gone.

He frantically began searching with his hand, hoping to find his glasses and mask before anyone could see him.

“Not now, dear.” He mumbled when he felt Eludance tugging on his coat. He finally noticed, after what felt like an eternity, something cold and hard. Eludance was still tugging on his coat, and he turned his head after he had carefully placed his glasses on his nose. He immediately wished he hadn’t, and resumed, now slightly panicking, to look for his mask. He tried to forget about a certain someone standing just a few feet away from him, but that certain someone wasn’t helping.

“Aha! You’re not getting away this time, vile deceiver!” the Hero shouted across the graveyard.

 

At last, Dollmaker spotted something near one of the gravestones, he picked it up and hastily shoved his mask onto his face. Then he turned towards Hero.

“Oh, Hero, excuse the holdup. It’s a pleasure to see you here.”

“Hah! Would you look at that, Mawnite, trying to lure me into his traps with charming words. I’m not falling for that again!”

Doll’s ears lowered slightly, he had hoped that maybe Hero would have remembered at least something. The time period between his death and him remembering has been longer than usual this time around.

“Ah, I see. I won’t bother you with what you were doing, then.”

He knew he should just let time do it’s healing, but it was painful to have to go through this, over and over again. It was painful, grieving the Hero he had to leave behind every time he died. He turned his back on Hero and just started walking towards the gravestone he was meant to walk towards to, when he heard the Hero’s voice again.

“However, as villainous you can be, I must ask, are you okay? That must have been a hard hit.”  
Dollmaker’s ears perked up, could it be?

“Yes, I am quite alright. I hope me being maskless didn’t shock you too much.”  
“I- what?” Hero sputtered, “No, that wasn’t- Aha! I see what you’re playing at! I won’t be tricked by you showing your face, not even if it is as beautiful as it is! Wait, no. That wasn’t- drat!“

Dollmaker recognized this, he had seen this very behaviour many times before. He welcomed it with open arms, it was a sign that Hero was improving.

Hero picked himself back up and pointed his finger at Doll.

“I don’t know what is happening, and how your trickery is causing it. But let it be known that I, the dashing Hero, will not be so easily swayed. Now, I must go, a certain someone asked me to accompany her to the castle. And who could say no to a child as charming as the Witch. Come and follow me, Mawnite. Before the Wolf knows what we’re up to, I cannot bear to be wounded right now.”

Hero turned his back on Dollmaker, and hurried his way towards the woods. Dollmaker, although a bit disappointed that Hero left so soon, was happier than he had been since Hero had last perished.


	2. Not going as planned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doll accompanies Witch on a walk throughout the woods. Nothing can go wrong, right?? It's not like they'll have a lovely talk about death, and almost witness someone being murdered. Right??? (Yeah this chapter is, kind of dark at the end)

Doll was shocked out of him tending to his dolls by a series of knocks on his door. He wasn’t expecting someone, but he figured it would be rude to just leave the person be. He opened the door to a small figure holding a pink lantern.

“Hello dear Witch, are you doing alright?” Dollmaker certainly wasn’t expecting her, not after he heard that Wolf found out about her and Hero going to the castle together.

“Oh yeah, I’m fine! Grandma said that I was allowed to go outside again, but only if you are with me.” Witch’s mask covered her face, and her ears were not fully grown, yet Dollmaker knew that she wasn’t as happy as she looked.

“Alright, Doll, are you okay with staying with him for the rest of the day? I have some important business I’d like to take care off. And Witch certainly doesn’t want to stay inside.”

Doll looked up at the sound of Wolf’s voice, he hadn’t noticed her leaning against a particularly tall gravestone at first. That was partially to blame on her excellently crafted costume, which seemed to blend in with the décor wherever she went.

“Ah, yes, I certainly am alright with that. I can resume with my work tomorrow.”

“Great, I don’t want anything like yesterday to happen again.” Wolf stood up straight and walked towards the Witch.

“You have fun, stay near Dollmaker, don’t get too close to the curtains, alright?”

Witch nodded and turned back to Dollmaker as Wolf walked towards Witch’s house.

 

Dollmaker and Witch walked through the graveyard, Witch holding castwick, Doll holding Eludance’s hand.  
“Where are we headed today?” Doll asked Witch, who was hopping between the gravestones.

“Oh! Towards the woods, Castwick’s favorite lantern is there.” “(Lantern!)”

Witch still sounded unhappy, and Dollmaker needed to know.

“What happened yesterday? Is Hero alright?”

Witch stopped skipping around the décor, and looked directly at Dollmaker.

“Everything was going okay until Hero and I walked back towards my house. Grandma spotted us when we walked past the woods. She was really angry. I don’t understand why… Why does she have to be mad at him after the Narrator is gone? Even Hero doesn’t know what he did.”

Dollmaker had to force himself not to ask what ended up happening to Hero, he had to explain first.

“Before your mom died, Hero and your grandmother were actually quite close. Hero, regardless of how you look at the story, did cause your mother’s death. The Narrator’s anger was devastating to all of us. We lost one of our greatest thespians, your grandma lost her daughter. She will never forgive Hero for that.”

It was silent for a few seconds.

“Did you lose something, too?” Witch eventually asked, with a wistful tone in her voice.

“I… I lost two of my greatest friends.”

It remained silent again, longer this time.

“I’m sorry for you.”

“As painful as it is to grieve what’s left of both of them, I am happy that I still have you, as Damsel’s son.”

Witch nodded, she didn’t show much emotion, except for the fact that she held Castwick a bit tighter than before.  
They walked the rest of the path towards the stone lantern in silence, but Witch got a little more excited when she saw the faint glow of it growing larger as they approached it. Doll watched her, Castwick and Eludance play around it for a bit. When he heard a few faint thuds just behind him.

“Excuse me, Witch, I’d like to apologize for the rough ending yesterday. It was a shame to see you being scolded for just being in my presence. ”

Doll couldn’t believe his ears, but him turning his head confirmed that he wasn’t hallucinating. Hero _was_ wandering around in the woods in his spare time, _he was Wolf’s territory._

“Oh, Hero, I am not sure if this is the right place for-“ Doll started, but Hero cut him off.

“Dollmaker! What a coincidence to see you here. Say, you are not trying to impose your hurtful lies and slander onto the innocent Witch, are you?”

Doll tried not to wince, he had hit the nail on its head with that accusation, at least as far as what Hero considered hurtful lies.

“Oh no! He is just keeping a watch on me! But he is right, grandma will not be happy if she knows that you’ve been here.”

“Oh no, dear Witch. I am not going to leave you alone with this slanderous trickster! Not before I know what he’s up to!”  
As happy as Doll felt to see Hero picking his memories back up, it was difficult to see him lose them again the very next day. He knew that this was normal, but yet…

“But mr. Hero, I know for sure that what he is telling aren’t lies! He has taught me so many things about the stage...”

“Are you sure, that it wasn’t in fact the Dollmaker, who told the Wolf that I would be meeting you yesterday?”

Dollmaker froze.

“I… I would never…”

“Dollmaker would never do that!!” Witch shouted before he could finish his line, but Hero continued.

“Let it be known that Dollmaker has lured me into many traps, many different times. And that he won’t... that he won’t… he.. won’t…” Hero’s words faltered, and he suddenly looked very shocked.

“I- I am sorry. I now realize that that was all part of the play.” He turned his head towards Dollmaker, his ears drooped low.

“Why did I not see that before-“

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE?!”

Dollmaker’s stomach turned over, Hero’s trip in the woods didn’t go unnoticed, it seemed.

Wolf stormed towards the three other thespians, Witch pleading for her to stop, but she ignored her. Wolf aggressively pushed Dollmaker aside, leaving him with a sore spot on his chest, and grabbed the Hero by his collar.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you right now.” She growled, soft enough so that Witch wouldn’t hear it, but loud enough so that Doll could.

Everything was a haze, and Dollmaker could, for a moment, only think about how Hero was going to die. Here, before he even had a chance to enjoy life again as fully as he could. He couldn’t bear this, if it was going to start over again, it better be fast. He knew Wolf liked to toy with her prey, and that didn’t make the situation any better.

He finally was able to blurt _something_ out.  
“Witch is here, you can’t do this to her.”

“Of course _you_ would advocate for him, wouldn’t you? Pathetic. Why didn’t you chase him off, that would’ve been better for you than see him die, here.”

This time Wolf forgot to keep her voice down, and Doll started to hear faint sobs behind him. Wolf looked up, Witch was holding her head in her hands.

“Why… can’t we all b-be friends.” Witch’s voice sounded weak.

Wolf let go of Hero, who fell to the ground. Doll immediately spurted towards him, but kept his eyes on Witch, who had grabbed her mask and took it off with a fluid motion. Revealing his face, faintly red with tears.

Wolf walked towards her muttered something in her ear, they both stood up, Witch grabbing Castwick tightly, and they walked off towards the edge of the woods, where Witch’s house was located. Leaving Dollmaker alone with Hero.


	3. Don't Leave Me Hanging

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hero's gay begins to awaken once again.

”I am sorry.”

Dollmaker barely heard Hero’s voice, his head felt fuzzy, everything was a haze. His only response was to twitch his ears slightly.

“I shouldn’t have come here.” Hero was staring at the floor, picking at some fake moss decorating it. Eludance, who had been hiding behind one of the props the whole time, ran back towards Dollmaker and held himself tight to his legs.

Doll finally managed to get control of his mouth again.

“Oh, don’t feel sorry, I quite appreciate your arrival.”  
_What kind of reassurance was that?_

“I almost got myself killed again, and to see the Witch like that...”

“You wanted to apologize to her, your intentions weren’t harmful. Wolf should have realized that, even if she will never forgive you for what you-“

Dollmaker abruptly fell silent, Hero wasn’t ready.

“Don’t try to hide it, Dollmaker! Wolf has been accusing me of something since forever! I know you’re referring to the same event! Although… now that I’ve realized that your lies were never… I am unsure if this incident is part of the play or not. I can’t remember it nonetheless, I don’t even know what actually happened. Nobody wants to tell me.”  
Dollmaker struggled to find words, which, despite what the other thespians thought, wasn’t that uncommon for him when speaking out of line. Especially in a situation as emotional as this.

“The time will come when you will remember. But that time isn’t now.”

Hero looked up from the floor, he looked flustered. Then, out of nowhere, he reached out to Dollmaker with his hand. Who was utterly confused for a few seconds.

“Don’t leave me hanging, friend, give me a helping hand!” Hero muttered after Doll just stood there without doing anything.

“Ah- Right.” Doll grabbed his hand and helped him to get up. Hero brushed off the dust on his pants and looked at Dollmaker, even though he had his mask on, Doll could feel the warmth from his gaze. Hero then seemed to catch himself and looked at the exit of the forest.

“I probably should go by now, I definitely don’t think that vile beast will appreciate the Hero staying in the woods right now.”

“I understand, I wouldn’t want you to die as well. You can visit me and my darlings as you please, though.”

The Hero laughed.

“You are welcome to visit my cart as well, if you’d like to!”  
He then looked back at Dollmaker, his ears drooping.   
“I sincerely regret calling you a liar and a deceiver. I wasn’t able to look past the narrative of the play. Come to think of it, that must have been part of the Narrator’s plan. I can see how he wanted to make my life even worse by portraying a great person like you as a villain. I won’t ever forget that again.”

Dollmaker had heard this, he had heard this many times before. But he couldn’t help but appreciate it every time it happened. Besides, the last time Hero improved like this, was when the Narrator still reigned, maybe he would finally be freed if he was gone.

“It is quite alright, the Narrator indeed intended on eliminate anything you loved in your life. It is still a long way to go to recover from that. We all suffered from his fury, but now that he is gone, we might have the power to reclaim our pride and joy.”

Dollmaker cleared his throat.  
"That being said, I should get back to tend to my work as well, it has been delayed long enough. My darlings are waiting for me.”

He grabbed Eludance’s hand and looked one last time at Hero, who was helping Mawnite to climb on top of his shoulders.

“Goodbye, dear, let’s hope that tomorrow won’t cause another fiasco like today.”  
“See you later, friend. I’ll see if Wolf already took her anger out on my cart or not. But yes, tomorrow shall be grand. It’s great to remember how nice it is to spend time with you.”


End file.
